The Growth of Archaeology in the West Coast and the Great Basin, 1935-60

Abstract

AbstractArchaeological research in the Far West of North America is reviewed in terms of the contributions to methodology and theory. The generally simple level of culture in an area in which functioning native cultures survived until recent times has led to the perfection of analytical techniques for non-ceramic evidence, the development of ingenuity in deriving conclusions, and a considerable use of the direct-historical approach. New methodological approaches have been developed in analysis of physical components of sites, determination of food resources, estimation of population density, establishment of functional typologies, testing of the value of chemical and other changes for chronological control, and experimentation with statistical techniques of seriation. Theoretical trends include a lack of culture classification systems comparable to those in other North American areas, a dependence on classificatory units on the level of the complex or assemblage, and a tendency toward the development of a classificatory system based on an ecological framework.